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TONV HAWKS U 



IS NOT RBOUT TONV HRMK-ITS RBOUT VOU. VOUR FRCE. VOUR PARK. 
VOUR DECK. VOUR GAME. VOUP WORLD EXCLUSIUE REUIEW » 



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They're back. And they're itching for action. With tons of planets to conquer in a whole new gigantic galaxy, you better believs 
Ratchet & Clank are gonna sink their teeth into some destruction. Ummm, destruction. With weapon upgrades, mods, armor and ths 
ability for Ratchet to get stronger and smarter as the game goes on, this could get uglier than The Grandmas In Bikinis Calendar after 
party. Speaking of parties, there's also hoverbike racing, space combat and gladiator arenas. As far as weapons and gadgets go, Ratche 
& Clank are stacked with 50 new ones, along with unlockable upgrades, so by the end of the journey, you'll go through more weapon; 
and gadgets than a hungry fat man will go through chicken wings at lunch. Lock and load, baby, lock and load, www.us.playstation.con 





Pummel opponents with 



over 15 weapons 



Battle for the checkered flag with Crash, friends and foes. Use 
missiles, bombs, tornadoes and more to pass or blast up to 4 friends in 
multiplayer mode. It’s time to pick up the pace or pick up the pieces. 



, Vicarious 
Visions" 



PlayStationE 



GAME BOr advance 



EVERYONE 

□ 


Mild Cartoon Violence 


ESRB 







road rash, nobody beats the Bandicoot 



www.crashbandicoot; 



f Battle for bragging rights in" 
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Race 18 mind-bending tracks 



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A America Online Keyword: 

- Lord of the Rings 



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vvv.lotrfaicUb.c, 



PlayStation 2 



GAME BOY adv2\nce 



'iNTERNET CONNECTIVITY required. Online game play available for the PlayStatson®2 computet entertainment 

system only. PiayStaSo; on and Nelwoitt Adapt tab* 

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ihe cha-'actsis. items, events arid place* therein ate trademarks of The Saul Zaentz Comp, my ,-.i iva Tolkien Enterprises unties 

Visit: www.lordoftherings.net 







9 playable heroes including Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn. 
Team up with co-op multiplayer mode. Go online' with PlayStation 2. 



15 interactive environments from Minas Tirith to The Crack of Doom. 



Enemies include The King of the Dead, Shelob. and The Witch King. 



Everything 



Cijoose tjour patfj at eacjames.com 



Challenge 





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married away. 




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CONTENTS 




REGULARS 

THE GIFTS THRT KEEP ON GIUING 



014 PEOPLE 

-> It doesn't matter who you vote for, we're all screwed 

018 P05T 

-> Readers sound off in an N-Gaging debate 

086 GAMEPORT: ARRIVAL5r'DEP0RTURE5 

-> Games are neat 

030 CHARTS 

The end zone still burns 

034 GAMEPLANNER 

-> Get ready.. .here they come 



056 UNDERGROUND UNEARTHED! 

-> A GMR exclusive: Why you shouldn’t be tired of Tony Hawk 

09^ 50C0M II 

-> If you don’t play, then the terrorists have already won 

°?6 CA5TLEVANIAMANIA! 

-> Konami’s latest is froth with goth: the GMR review 

LEDACV DF KAIN: DEFIANCE 

-> Raziel wants to show you his brand new camera 





GMR (ISSN 1544-6816) is published monthly by Ziff Davis Media, Inc., 28 E 28th St, New York, NY 10016. Periodicals Postage Pending at New York, NY 10016 and additional mailing offices. Single issue rates: $4.99. The one year (12 issue) subscription rate is $19.98 in the U.S. and $35.98 
outside the U.S. Checks must be made payable in U.S. currency only to GMR magazine. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to GMR, P.O. Box 59497, Boulder, CO 80322-9497. For subscription service questions, address changes, or to order, please contact us at: Web: 
http://gmr.ziffdavis.com; Phone: U.S. and Canada (800)395-7932, elsewhere (303)604-7445; Mail: GMR, P.O. Box 59497, Boulder, CO 80322-9497 (please include your mailing label with any correspondence as it contains information that will expedite processing); Fax: U.S. and Canada (850)683- 
4094, elsewhere (303)604-0518. The editors and the publisher are not responsible for unsolicited materials. Copyright © 2003 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. GMR is a registered trademark of Ziff Davis Publishing Holdings Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium 
without express written permission of Ziff Davis Media Inc. is prohibited. For permission to reuse material from our publications or websites, or to use our logo, contact Ziff Davis Media's Rights and Permissions Manager, Olga Gonopolsky at olga_gonopolskyl3ziffdavis.com. 













FRONT 

GmR NEWS NETWORK 



023 TOKVO GAME 5H0W A-GO-GO! 

Holy crap? The Final Fantasy VII sequel is not a game 

026 TAP WAVE ON TAP 

-> More portable gaming that isn't from Nintendo 

026 FATAL FILM 

-> Steven Spielberg. Videogame movie. 

028 LOTR: BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH 

-> Hobbit rush! 

028 THE MATRIX RELOADED-ED 

-> You're saying I can dodge bad philosophy? 

033 TALENT: KEN LEVINE 

Comic-book guy: the man driving Freedom Force 



NEXT 

INCDmiNG GRITIES 



04? LEGACY OF KAIN: DEFIANCE 
048 CRIM50N 5KIE5: HIGH ROAD TO REVENGE 
048 BROKEN SWORD III: THE 5LEEPIN0 DRAGON 
048 UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004 
048 DRAKE 

050 MI55I0N IMP055IBLE: OPERATION 5URMA 

050 5PV HUNTER 2 

050 DRAQONBALL Z: BUDOKAI 2 

050 WARIO WARE DC 

051 KING OF FIGHTERS 2000^2001 
051 C0UNTER-5TRIKE 

051 SPY V5. SPY 

052 CRA5H NITRO KART 
052 GRADIU5 V 

052 KILLER ? 

053 BREAKDOWN 

053 MAXIMO VS. ARMV OF ZIN 



MORE 

TIPS. CODES. mOUIES. RRCHIUES 



109 5TRATEDV: CA5TLEVANIA 

-> Please allow us to take all the fun out of it 

112 TOP 5 TIPS: A.I. 

-> Code prices are rising, times are tough 

114 RETROACTIVE 

-> Ehrgeiz is German for.. ."We don’t know German" 

115 THE LI5T 

-> Like you didn't already have enough to buy 



NOW 

REUIEWS YOU CRN TRUST 



065 TONY HAWK'S UNDERGROUND 

06? KARAOKE REVOLUTION 

06? TAK AND THE POWER OF JUJU 

068 ROGUE 5QUADR0N III: REBEL 5TRIKE 

0?2 RATCHET Et CLANK: DOING COMMANDO 

0?2 AMPED 2 

0?2 KILL.5WITCH 

0?6 CA5TLEVANIA: LAMENT OF INNOCENCE 

080 HOMEWORLD II 

080 HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED 

080 JEDI KNIGHT: JED1 ACADEMV 

082 WWE RAW 2 

082 VDODOO VINCE 

082 5C00BV-D00: NIGHT OF 100 FRIDHT5 

082 M0N5TER TRUCKS 4X4 

082 LINK5 2004 

084 ESPN NBA BASKETBALL 

084 NBA LIVE 2004 

084 NBA JAM 

086 0LADIU5 

086 5WAT: GLOBAL 5TRIKE TEAM 
086 BLOODY ROAR 4 
086 CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON 
086 FIFA 2004 

08? HARRV POTTER: QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP 
08? DI5NEY PARTV 
088 DO! DO! HVPERDRIND 
088 TOP 5PIN 
090 FINAL FANTA5V X-2 
092 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLE5 
092 SECRET WEAPONS OVER NORMANDV 
092 METAL ARM5: GLITCH IN THE 5VSTEM 
094 50C0M II 
096 ROGUE 0P5 
096 KIRBY'5 AIR RIDE 
09? AGE OF MYTHOLOGY: THE TITANS 
098 BEVOND GOOD 0 EVIL 
100 5PHINX AND THE CURSED MUMMV 
100 XIII 

102 FIRE EMBLEM 

104 HARVE5T MOON: FRIENDS OF MINERAL TOWN 
104 DOUBLE DRAGON ADVANCE 
104 MUCHA LUCA 

104 TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES 





122 DAME GEEZER 

-> You had him at Halo. ..last century 











As GMR approaches its first anniversary, we felt it was time to look back over this year and reflect deeply on its meaning— to 
mull over our successes and our failures and discuss, in perhaps some sort of industry-wide roundtable, how gaming has 
changed as a medium and what it could mean to future generations; to the old, the sick, and the needy. Perhaps, we thought, Andrew 
could solicit input from every reader and, on giant videoscreens the country over, luminaries of the games business would provide 
laser-like insight into the issues that faced us all in the coming decades. However, regular readers will not be surprised to learn that 
reality has fallen somewhat short of these lofty aspirations. In fact, we just made the reviews section really big instead. 

And there's a lot of quality. Tony Hawk's latest grind proves to be anything but, receiving a prestigious ten out of ten rating. Final Fantasy 
X-2 provides a predictably slick, though surprisingly funny epic, and Castlevania (conspicuously missing from last issue's Coldplay feature— 
oops!) proves that the mighty franchise does indeed have a future in 3D. And ...Raynnan creator Michel Ancel did an amazing job with 
Beyond Good & Evil, which is easily one of the best games of the year, despite the obvious handicap of having a talking pig as a sidekick. 
Simon Cox Editor-in-Chief 



NEXT CRUFORNIR GOUERNOR? 



[RERNGLOFICRTIQN] 

SlfTION COM EDITOR IN CHIEF 

"The Great American Experiment has failed.” Proposes a return to British rule, 
starting with the recolonization of California and compulsory accent training for all 
citizens. Bloody guillotine executions to be offset by daily state-sanctioned teatime. 




[BLUE] 

DRfTIES ITIIELKE EXECUTIVE EDITOR 

"*&rar Immediate rescindment of state obscenity laws. Favors establishment of 
fully armed fashion police. Proposes $2.1 trillion undersea commuter link with 
Japan, and will submit a "no Old Navy" amendment to state constitution. 




(LRISSEZ FRIRE] 

DRUID CHEN MANAGING EDITOR 

"Whatever man, it’s up to you." Makes no specific promises one way or the other. 
Will rebuild infrastructure, if that's what you want. Will increase funding for public 
schools, you know, if that's cool. If not, then that's cool, too. 




[GOOF] 

TOITI PRICE NEW5 EDITOR 

"Don’t really vote for me, I’m just messin’ around.” Campaign platform includes: 
weekend parties at governor's mansion, mandatory statewide wet T-shirt 
contests, repeal of the "smoking" ban, and lowering the tariffs on imported steel. 




(UJHIG) 

RNDREUU PFISTER WRITER 

“Whiggery forever!" In favor of the cloning of Henry Clay and dismantling the 
"traitorous dogs" of the Republican Party. Plans to initiate war with Oregon in 
order to increase statist pride. Will likely die after 30 days in office. 




(HRPPV KITTEN] 

GERRV SERRRNO art director 

"I will kill you all.” Pledges to rain down unholy death and destruction upon fair 
citizens, crushing all hopes and dreams of the constituency foolish enough to give 
him the power his evil soul so desperately desires. Will also lower taxes. 




tcommuNisT] 

CAROLINE KING DESIGNER 

"Yeah, I’m a Communist. So what?" Is a Communist. 









Simon Cox Editor-in-Chief/Creative Director 
James Mielke Executive Editor 
David Chen Managing Editor 
Tom Price News Editor 

Andrew Pfister Writer 
Gerry Serrano Art Director 
Caroline King Designer 

Contributors 

Shane Bettenhausen, John Davison, Jeremy Dunham. Joe Fielder 
Darren Gladstone, Jeff Green, Ravi Hiranand, Jeremy Horwitz, 
Bryan Intihar, George Jones, Patrick Klepek, Garnett Lee 
Di Luo, Mark MacDonald, Nich Maragos, Zach Meston, Thierry 
Nguyen, Wil O'Neal, Greg Orlando. Ryan Scott, Evan Shamoon 
Dave Smith, Phil Theobald, Doug Trueman, Martin Thompson 

Copy Desk 

Copy Chief Kristen Salvatore 
Copy Editors Tom Edwards, Greg Ford, Maritza Refuerzo 

Production 

Senior Production Manager Anne Marie Miguel 
Production Manager Monica Brent 
Assistant Production Manager Teresa Newson 
Art Production Manager Michele KeUogg-Manousos 

ZD Game Group 

Senior Vice President Dale Strang 
Editorial Director John Davison 
Creative Director Simon Cox 
Business Director Cathy Bendoff 

. Group Publisher 

Lee Uniacke 

41 5-357-491 0, lee_uniackef3ziffdavis.com 

Assoc. Group Publisher 

Stan Taigen 

41 5-357-491 5, stan_taigenf3ziffdavis.com 

Advertising Director 

Marci Yamaguchi 

41 5-357-4944, marci_yamaguchi(3ziffdavis.com 

Bay Area 

Bay Area Peninsula; NV. UT 

Sales Office: 101 Second Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 
Mary Gray District Sales Manager, mary_grayf3ziffdavis.com 
415-547-8782, fax: 415-547-8777 
Aaron Gallion Account Executive, aaron_gatlion(3ziffdavis.com 
425-823-1635, fax: 425-952-7028 

Southwest 

Southern California and Arizona 

Sales Office: 101 Second Street, 8th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94105 
Julie Steelman, Regional Sales Manager, 
julie_steelmanf3ziffdavis.com 
714-491-3996, fax: 714-491-3998 
Eve Friedman Account Executive, eve_friedmanf3ziffdavis.com 
415-547-8781, fax: 415-547-8777 

Midwest 

AL,AR,CO,FI_lL,IN,KY,LA,ND.Mi,MN,MS,NE,NM.OH,OK,OR,SD,TN,T 

X,WA,Wi,WY 

Sales Offices: 141 1 Opus Place. Suite 340, Downers Grove, IL 60515 
Marc CaUison Regional Sales Manager, 
marc_callison(3ziffdavis.com 
630-810-4095, fax: 630-810-4099 
Candace Droz Account Executive Candace_drozf3ziffdavis.com 
41 5-357-4920, fax: 41 5-547-8777 

East 

CT, DC, DE,GA,MA,MD,ME.NC,NH,NJ, NY.PAR1.SC, VA.VT 
Sales Offices: 28 East 28th Street, NY, NY 10016 
Ian Sinclair Regional Sates Manager, ian_sinctairf3ziffdavis.com 
203-255-5795, fax: 203-255-4560 
Amy Mishra Account Executive, amy_mishraf3ziffdavis.com 
415-547-8780, fax: 415-547-8777 

Online Sales 

Bill Young, Internet Account Manager, bill_youngf3ziffdavis.com 
415-547-8453, fax: 415-547-8777 

Senior Advertising Coordinator 
Tipler Ubbelohde, tipler_ubbelohde(3ziffdavis.com 

Sales Assistant 

Alison Rubino, Alison_rubinoQziffdavis.com 

How to contact Advertising and Sates 
415-547-8779 

Marketing Director 
Rey Ledda, rey_teddaQziffdavis.com 

Assoc. Research Director 
May Tong, may_tong0ziffdavis.com 

Marketing Coordinator 
Wayne Shiu, wayne_shiu0ziffdavis.com 

For Subscription Problems call 1-800-395-7932 



u 







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devouring this mag... 



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Just $10 and you’ll get 10 months 
of GMR delivered to your door. 





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accessories for the life 
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FOR A STORE NEAR YOU, CALL 1-800-800-51 66 OR VISIT WWW.EBGAMES.COM 



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We take games seriously 





HOSTAGE R ESC U E . DRUG Bl 
WliatfdlS^urtteam do today? 



BOMB DIFFUSION 



Go on hazardous missions, including hostage 
rescue, bomb diffusion, and surprise raids. 



Use assault rifles, fiber optics, night vision, and 
other hi-tech SWAT weapons and gear. 



Breach and clear rooms, crack computer 
systems, and take down the bad guys-all in 
a fast-paced environment. 



©2003 Siena Entertanmenl Inc. Afl rights reserved. Sierra, the Sierra lip. SWAT and the SWAT logo are trademarks a registered trademarks of Sara Entertainment Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Vivend Universal Games and the Vivendi Universal Garres logo are trademarks of Vivendi Universal Games, Inc. Development 
by Argonaut Software Ltd. 'PlayStation" and the “PS" Family logo are registered trademarks ol Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft Xbox. and the Xircx logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation In the U.S. and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft 







■ c 



SHOUT 
COMMANDS 
TO YOUR 
SWAT TEAM 
VIA HEADSET! 



SQUAD-BASED ACTION IN A HOSTILE WORLD 



When diplomacy fails, it’s up to your elite SWAT unit to eliminate the threat, 

■ " 

traveling to the world’s deadliest hotspots to take down criminal scum. 

Give your squad their orders via the controller or directly through voice 

■ 

command. Then, get moving. Teamwork and tactics are your tools; stealth 
and firepower are your weapons. Let the negotiations begin. 






1 - 1=1 



Blood and Gore 
Intense Violence 
Strong Language 



Vivendi 

universal 



Sierra 





swatgst.sierra.com 



PlayStation®2 









POST 




WHINE. WHINE. WHINE. THRT’S ALL VOU EUER DO. THIS 
mONTH’S BEST-OF. HAND PICKED FROIT1 THE BAG OF GAB. 




SPOOOOKY! 

Dear GMR, 

I'd just like to share a few weird 
experiences I've had with your Future 
Issue [Issue 09]. Before you say anything 
about Caroline, the answer is no! 

(Unless, of course, she’s free from 

moving and wants a li’l ) Uhhh, back on 

topic. I’ve had some weird experiences 
with that issue. For example, while 
working on a small 3D project making a 
goomba (from Super Mario Bros.), the 
Future Issue comes through the door 
and behold! [I open to] "Courage Under 
Fire" (page 52) and I see goombas! 
Coincidence I thought, but then it 



happened again! While reading and 
listening to my music, I heard Daft 
Punk's One More Time. Just as the words 
"one more time” were said, I looked 
down to see Karaoke Revolution (page 
42), and behold, in the picture, the words 
"one more time” are there in front of 
me! Please tell me I’m not going insane, 
because I don't think my other 
personality would like that. 

Yours faithfully, 

Gerg - Greg’s alternate personality 

Gerg, Greg, whoever you are. These 
coincidences can be easily explained. 
We’ve been watching you, following 
your life, and engineering these so- 
called coincidences. Why? We just like 
messing with people. 

GATECRASHER 

Recently, my grandmother passed on. I 
was fortunate enough to be with her in 
her final hours. She left me a little 
inheritance. At the suggestion of her 
daughter, my mother, I want to use it to 
travel. Like any hardcore gamer, I'd love 
to go to E3 in L.A. more than anything 
else in the world. 

I know E3's a press-only event, but is 
there any way, any way, I can get in? I'm 
sure people only ask you this about a 




million times, but I am willing to do 
anything, whatever it takes. 

If I have to clean urinals for the third 
assistant of the nephew of the limo 
driver who drives the press to a sneak 
peek of Shigeru Miyamoto’s dry cleaning, 
then so be it! 

Who should I contact about getting to 
E3? Like I said, I'm sure you’ve only been 
asked this more times than you can 
count, but I would appreciate any info, 



anything that could get me one step 
closer. 

thag_the_upset 

Sorry about your grandmother, thag. 
We’re sure she’d want you to have fun 
with that scrilla she dropped on you. 
But E3? Is a convention full of flashing 
lights, sweaty nerds, and bored-looking 
booth babes really the way you want to 
spend your vacation? Actually, it's a lot 



mESSAGE BOARD 
DUMKIES 

If you'd like to be considered for Message Board 
Junkies, go to www. 1up.com and get yourself to 
the GMR site. You’ll find a link, a day’s supply of 
rations, and a miniature bible/Russian 
dictionary. Good luck. 



While we were busy working on GMR ft 10, some 
of our message-board posters decided to have 
an impromptu conversation about the upcoming 
Final Fantasy games. Here is a transcript of that 
conversation (but not in its entirety): 

Tactics has hooked me on RPGs. Thus, I will be 
getting FF:CC because I can get a hold of three 



friends and three SPs. I am not going for any 
other FF because I don't fancy online play. 
(Also, customizing a moogle could turn out 
quite hilarious.) 

-LuigiSunshineX 

I’ll definitely get FFXI (the whole customization 
aspect and freedom pull me in, plus ever since 



Star Wars Galaxies, I love MMORPGs), but I'll 
try to get them all. The only one I would pass 
on is FFX-2; I prefer the more "rustic” Final 
Fantasys. 

Link1811 

CC is the only one I'm thinking of as a rental 
before I buy. Other than that, I’m going to be 




18 









WRITE US: GmRIQZIFFDflUIS.COm 



of fun, but hard to get in. Try 
disguising yourself as Gary 
Coleman— that guy’s always there. 

RGRIIMST IM-GRGE 

Ten years ago, Gamepro magazine 
was accused of giving favorable 
reviews to games published by its 
sponsors. Ever since then, I have 
been skeptical of all reviews. So, 
when I saw your review for Nokia’s 
N-Gage in the November issue, I 
read it with a grain of salt— 
especially since the magazine came 
packaged in a plastic wrapper that 
was sponsored by Nokia. Imagine 
my surprise and delight to read that 
you did not particularly like N-Gage. 
In fact, I have rarely seen a review 
that rated a product so poorly. 

Keep up the great work! 

Leonard Herman 

Author, Phoenix: The Fail & Rise of 
Videogames 

FOR IM-GRGE 

Your review of the N-Gage has me 
wondering if a Nokia rep ran over 
your dog. Gamers had to learn extra 
buttons when we stepped up from 
Super Nintendo to the Playstation 
and it was worth it. As an owner of 
an N-Gage, I wish to point out some 
strengths of the system. 

The 3D graphics are on par with 
a PSone. I did not find the screen 
spasmodic at all. While there are 
more buttons than a Gameboy 
Advance, there are less than PCs 
and not all keys are used for 
games. 

While some games do have 
ghosting, many others have true 
multiplayer competition. For me, I 
enjoy the ghost players in games 
that never offered any multiplayer 
before. As for "Really Familiar 
Games,” we are not above remakes 
in movies, television OR games. I 



love classics like Namco Museum 
despite familiarity. You must too as 
your website, Gamers.com, gave 
that a 7 (that’s better than any game 
reviewed for N-Gage.) 

Finally, who needs Midi BGM 
when you can jam your favorite 
station while gaming? 

I wish you would re-examine the 
N-Gage lest we kill another 
Gameboy competitor, or did 
Nintendo give you a better gift bag 
at E3? 

David Boop 
Manager EB Games 
Aurora, Colorado 

miss 

LOIMELVHERRTS 

Hey guys, great mag, keep up the 
good work. Oh, but I was wondering 
if you guys could do me a little favor. 
OK, I broke up with my girlfriend 
like a month ago.. .actually, she 
broke up with me. Anyway, I love 
her, and I can't stop thinking about 
her. When we broke up, I said a lot 
of mean things I now regret. So, I 
want to show her that I really do 
care, ’cause she doesn’t think so. 
Could you guys put, "This is for 
Eddie Cruz and the girl he loves. 
Amber, give him another chance to 
make it up” on your cover in big 
words or somewhere in big words? 
Thanks, it would be nice if you 
could. 

Eddie Cruz 

Maybe the fact that you’re trying to 
impress your ex with a 
personalized message in a 
videogame magazine says more 
about why you have an ex 
girlfriend than anything else. 
Putting a sentiment into the pages 
of our magazine— nestled between 
an ad for Arx Fatalis and a picture 



of Pfister in a penguin suit — that’s 
better suited carved onto a picnic 
table might not be the most 
romantic thing you could think of 
(or maybe it is). If you really want 
to win her back, we suggest 
making a video of yourself singing 
Total Eclipse of the Heart, and then 
tearfully begging on your knees. 
Trust us, that always works. 

HELLO TO VOU! 

Good magazine you guys have. In 
the October 2003 issue, Dustin 
Quillen asked if there is a game you 
could play completely backward. As 
surprising as this may sound, there 
actually has been one. Hudson's 
Bobobobo Bobobo Secret Technique 
#87.5, Exploding Nostril Hair Ultra 
Fist for Game Boy Advance- 
released in December 2002 in 
Japan (obviously not released in 
North America)— included a From 
the End mode in which players 
could play the game from the end. 
(A gamer had suggested this, and 
Hudson used the idea.) I personally 
haven't played the game, but it 
seems very.. .unique from what I’ve 
read. 

Jonathan Coley (Memphis, TN) 



You’re telling us about Bobobobo ? 
Don’t make Pfister blast you with 
his nose hairs, punk. 





DEGREE PROGRAM 




school of 

► Game Design & Development 

► Computer Animation 

► Digital Media 



800 . 226.7625 

fullsail.com 



picking them all up. I want to make sure 
I can get a good experience with CC 
without having someone else to play 
with before I pick it up. 

_Tifa _ ’ 

I’ll buy them all, but I'm looking forward 
to FFXII the most. I was a little let down 



by FFX s story/characters, so I'm a little 
upset that they decided to make X-2 the 
first FF sequel. FFCC looks nothing 
short of amazing, but aside from the 
moogles, it doesn't look very much like 
your standard FF game. Whether that’s 
a good or bad thing, I don’t know. 
-Corndog_dq 



QUOTE OF THE mONTH 

"Got this month’s issue of GMR. As 
always, it’s a pleasant and enjoyable 
read." 

-AutomaticForThePeople 



YOU CAN GET THERE 
FROM > HERE 



3300 University Boulevard 
Winter Park, FL 32792 

Financial aid available to those who qualify 
Job placement assistance 
Accredited College, ACCSCT 

© 2003 Full Sail, Inc. Ail rights reserved. The terms "Full Sail," "You Can Get There 
From Here," “Full Sal! Real World Education," and the Full Sail logo are either 
registered service marks or service marks of Full Sail, Inc. 







Visions” 



© 2003 Activision, Inc. and-, its affiliates. Published and distributed by Activision Publishing, Inc. Activision is a registered trademark and THUG is a 
trademark of Activision, inc. and its affiliates. Ail rights reserved. Tony Hawk is a trademark of Tony Hawk. PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox versions 
developed by Neversoft Entertainment, Inc. Game Boy Advance version developed by Vicarious Visions. “PlayStation" and the “PS" Family logo are 
registered trademarks orSony Computer Entertainment Inc. Online icon is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. TM, ® and 
Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy.Advance are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. Microsoft, Xbox, and the Xbox logos are either registered 
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. GameSpy 
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IN THE NEWS 



0E3 

0£6 

028 

028 

030 

033 



T0KV0 DAME SHOW 

The Milkman stars in a very special International Report 



TAPWAVE 

Our first look at the latest all-in-one handheld gaming device 



JADE EMPIRE 

It’s Bioware, it's Chinese, it’s green 



SCREEN 

The Matrix Reloaded 



CHARTS 

The best-selling games of September 



TALENT 

Ken Levine of Irrational Games shows us his tights 






OMR NEWS NETWORK 

neuj games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 



x FRONT 




TOKVO GAME SHOW ’03 

LIONS, 1 



LIONS, TIGERS, RNDCOSPLRV. OHfTlV! 



INTERNATIONAL REPORT 



If you missed the Square Enix 
conferences that opened the 
weekend, you missed almost 
everything of interest at this year's 
Tokyo Game Show. After those day- 
one bombs, there wasn’t much to see 
from an industry that seems to be 
going through some lean years. 

Square Enix will doubtlessly survive 
on the strength of its core franchises. 

Not one, but two Kingdom Hearts sequels 
are coming: Kingdom Hearts: Chain of 
Memories for GBA in 2004, and Kingdom 
Hearts 2, coming to PS2 at an 
unspecified date. Chain of Memories picks 



up where the first game's story left off 
and looks to offer some sharp isometric 
action for GBA. The later PS2 sequel 
features Sora, Riku, and Kairi in their 
teenage years, with a black-clad Mickey 
Mouse batting cleanup. 

Square's best-loved RPG is getting a 
sequel as well, though Final Fantasy VII: 
Advent Children isn't a game— it's an 
hour-long DVD movie due in Japan next 
summer. Character designer Tetsuya 
Nomura and Final Fantasy X Director 
Yoshinori Kitase lead the project, which 
features Cloud and Sephiroth going at it 
again, two years after FFVII's conclusion. 



In 2004, Square plans to update Final 
Fantasy XI with new content (including 
player-versus-player gameplay) and to 
release three new PlayOnline games: 
Ambrosia Odyssey for PS2, a cooperative 
action-RPG; Front Mission Online for PS2 
and PC, an online mecha-action game; 
and Junkmetal for PC, an Enix-born MMO 
mecha-combat project. Junkmetal was 
playable at TGS, while Odyssey and Front 
Mission begin beta testing next spring. 

On the show floor, there were few 
surprises and more confirmation that 
Japanese publishers are in a rut. This 
year’s trend is sword-driven 3D action, 



with a few good games ( Onimusha 3), 
some good-looking games (Taito's 
Bujingai), and a lot of questionable 
games ( Dororo , Samurai 2, Shinsengumi, 
Magatama, Berserk, Seven Samurai 
20XX\ featuring blades and blood as their 
central themes. We can thank the 
platinum-selling Dynasty Warriors for the 
proliferation of imitators, but it'll be a 
shame if games like Ninja Gaiden and 
Onimusha 3 get lost in the shuffle. 

Namco’s refusal to jump onto the 
hack-and-slash bandwagon was an 
encouraging sign. Its best game drew the 
shortest lines, though— Baten Kaitos !■* 




23 






FRONT x 



DMRNEW5 NETWORK 

new games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 



XB 

PC 

PS2 

GBA 

GC 




"Hideo Kojima called, and he wants 
his game back," said a little voice inside 
our minds as we met with Spy Fiction 
developers, Access Games, at TGS. The 
game is actually pretty cool, though. 



attracted few players despite its 
excellent graphics and fast battle scenes. 
Meanwhile, Breakdown and R: Racing 
Evolution fell short of their E3 hype. The 
blurry, jagged Breakdown demo stood in 
stark contrast to the prerendered trailer, 
and R still suffers from uninvolved 
handling. Trailers for Ace Combat 5 and 
Xenosaga: Episode il inspired hope, but 
neither has a confirmed release date. 

Capcom's lineup looked better than 
most. Onimusha 3 was a favorite, despite 
short lines for the demo. Resident Evil 
Outbreak drew steady interest, and 
Monster Hunter featured gorgeous 
graphics and offbeat cooperative online 
gameplay. Even GTA3 drew crowds and 
debuted before the show with 
respectable sales. 

Sega, by comparison, still seems 
creatively adrift. Its brightest light was 
Treasure's ace Astro Boy side-scroller on 
GBA— which at least succeeds within its 
limitations— while Sega's other games 
have a lot left to prove. WOW's Dororo 
lacks depth, Gungrave OD needs more- 
focused level design, and Sakura Taisen 
V—a steam-punk manga Western beat- 
em-up (?)— looks like a genre-blending 
experiment gone horribly wrong. 

Microsoft's dogged push in Japan 
continues unabated, and to be fair, it has 
a strong software lineup. Project Gotham 
Racing 2, Rallisport Challenge 2, Steel 
Battalion: Line of Contact, and other 



playable titles all looked good, while 
Phantom Dust and Jade Empire made 
impressive debuts. MS needs to learn 
who not to put on stage, though. Peter 
Moore's a nice guy, but he's not the best 
choice for a pitchman in Japan. 

Smaller companies brought smaller 
announcements, but some still worthy of 
note. SNK confirmed a 3D King of 
Fighters for PS2. Hudson's Bonk’s 
Adventure and Adventure Island remakes 
were the surprise hits of Konami’s 
display, outshining Suikoden IV s debut 
among nostalgic action fans. Sony 
brought the quirk with Masaya 
Matsuura's Mojib Ribbon (finally!) and 
Bionic Commando throwback Chain Dive. 
From Software delivered several 
surprising games: Tenchu Kurenai, a 
Tenchu sequel; Nebula: Echo Night, a sci- 
fi suspense adventure; and Chrome 
Hound: Age of Arms, an online mecha- 
combat game for Xbox. 

The industry went home from TGS 
with many questions and no easy 
answers; 2004 will be a rough year for 
both imitators and innovators, given 
steadily dropping sales in Japan. There's 
enough quality coming to keep hardcore 
fans happy, but the burst of creativity 
that will drive the next generation of 
consoles is temporarily on vacation. 
_David Smith 

_More Info at www.lup.com 



WHY WE LOVE IT 

TGS REmiNDS US OF RLL THE 
THINGS UUE NEUER SEE IN THE U.S. 



Braving the morning rush-hour commute out to the Makuhari Messe— 
where the Tokyo Game Show is held every year— is no laughing matter. 
But if there’s anyone bold enough to post up against the throngs of schoolgirls 
and coffee-drinking Japanese salarymen, it’s our own Giant Milkman. When he 
wasn’t barreling past hundreds of pushy show goers or handing his number out 
to booth babes, he was taking note of the finer things TGS had to offer, such as... 



LOVELY BOOTH BABES: 

The Japanese versus Western games 
discussion is hot right now, thanks to 
the recent success of titles like GTA3 
and Halo. But trust us when we say 
that we won’t be reminiscing about 
Rogue Ops 20 years from now, or 
blowing wetly into our hanky like we 
did when we saw this Taito model 
showing off a 25th-anniversary Space 
Invaders T-shirt. Has it really been 
that long? Oh, how we've aged. 

SUPA-FRESH MERCHANDISE: 

The eternal question of who was the 
better rapper (Biggie or 2pac) may 
never be settled, but the answer to 
who has the better merchandise 
(United States or Japan) is a no- 
brainer. Whether drooling over things 
like this Astro Boy display or trying to 
rationalize spending $140 (U.S.) on a 
Final Fantasy XIII silver necklace (we 
did), we left the show broke and 
certain that Japan has the goods. 

COOL TECHNO CRAP: 

If we were to set our clocks by the 
current level of coolness of our high- 
tech toys here in the States, right 
now, it'd be 1998. Our most 
expensive, state-of-the-art minidisc 
players pale next to the cheapest, 
low-end models in Japan. Likewise, 
our cell phones stink compared to 
theirs. This DoCoMo cell phone has a 
fully 3D (and fully sweet) rotating 
Cloud (of FFVII ) screensaver installed. 

GROWN MEN IN FUNNY SUITS: 

The gaming industry isn’t nearly as 
sexy as you might think it is. While 
we do get to play games for a living, 
it takes many man hours and late 
nights to make the magazine you're 
holding in your hands. Still, we know 
we've got it good, especially in 
contrast to this poor bozo handing 
out Karaoke Revolution pamphlets 
while dressed up as a microphone. 
(We like to call him Mike.) I# 




24 









[ERE SPORT LIVES 



THE TIMBERLAND 6" BOOT. 
PERFECT FOR THE POSTGAME 



''are traderrarte or registers 




FRONT X 



□MR NEWS NETWORK 

neuj games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 






UNTAPPED! 



ONE mORE HRNDHELD TO EITIPTV 
(RND THEN FILL] OUR POCKETS 

U.S.A. 



XB 



PC 



PS2 



GBA 

GC 




After playing with the first 
TapWave Zodiac to roll off the 
assembly line, we can safely say 
that there’s no way in hell you 
could confuse it with a Game Boy 
Advance. For starters, the Zodiac's 
screen is larger and looks sharper 
than a GBA’s. The Zodiac has an 
analog thumb pad, six buttons, and 
an ATI graphics chip. More 
important, it does a whole lot more 
than just play games (but while 
we're on that topic, the games are 
shaping up nicely — and the Zodiac 
supports the hundreds 
of Palm 



OS titles already out). It plays 
MP3s, can stash Tom’s barnyard 
porn video collection, and is ready 
for wireless head-to-head gaming. 
This ain’t some kids’ system— it’s a 
Game Man. 

Yes, Nokia recently tried knocking 
Nintendo down a few pegs with the 
N-Gage. We know how that battle is 
faring so far (see our review last 
issue). What remains to be seen is 
how the Zodiac will fit into this 
picture. It’s got a slew of titles, a 
powerful Palm OS PDA to back it 
up, and a head start on 
Sony’s PSP. We’ll let ya 
know our final 
verdict next 
month, when 
we get our 
hands on the 
TapWave launch 
titles. I# 

Darren Gladstone 



.Mare info at www.tapwave.com 



1 50 FRAME! 

SPIELBERG GETS SCRRY 



Tecmo and DreamWorks 
have announced that writer 
John Rogers ( The Core, Catwoman) 
has been named producer of the 
upcoming Fatal Frame movie, and 
that the film has been put on the 
studio’s production fast track. 

True to the game, the movie's 
plot will be set in Japan-a good sign 
that Rogers intends to remain 
faithful to the original material. 
Rogers explains, “By focusing on 
cool Japanese cultural additions and 
different ghost ‘mythos’ most North 
American audiences are unfamiliar 
with, we can do something unique." 
Another promising sign: 
DreamWorks boss Steven Spielberg 



is directly involved. Can Fatal Frame 
outspook The Ring ? ME* 





.More Info at www.tecmolnc.com 



GAMEPORT UlTHLGfrnE INFO. NOW BOOTING 



+> Arrivals 


COmiNG SOON 




SYSTEM 


ETA 


TITLE 


HOW HOT? 


XBOX/PC 


NOV 


ARMED & DANGEROUS 

Everyone sounds funnier with an English accent. 


4444 


ALL 


NOV 


LOTR: THE RETURN OF THE KING 

The last movie, but definitely not the last game. 


4444 


XBOX 


NOV 


RAINBOW SIX 3 

Night-vision goggles are cool. 


44444 


GC, PC, PS2, XBOX 


NOV 


JAMES BOND: EVERYTHING OR NOTHING 

We’ll take everything, thanks. ®®®® 


GC, PS2, XBOX 


NOV 


MEDAL OF HONOR: RISING SUN 

Relive Pearl Harbor, sans Ben Affleck. 


444 


GC, PS2, XBOX 


NOV 


TRUE CRIME: STREETS OF L.A. 

To live and die and get out of your car in L.A. 


444 


PC 


NOV 


CONTRACT J.A.C.K. 

You’re working for H.A.R.M. and kicking A.S.S. 


4444 


PC 


DEC 


DEUS EX: INVISIBLE WAR 

If it’s invisible, are we sure it’s happening? 


44444 


GBA, XBOX 


DEC 


MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: OPERATION SURMA 

Hope the discs don’t self-destruct. ® ® ® 


PS2, XBOX 


DEC 


ALIAS 

Jennifer Garner can kick our butt anytime. 


444 


PC, XBOX 


DEC 


MAX PAYNE 2 

Harder-boiled and purpler prosed. 


444 


PC 


DEC 


THE SIMS BUSTIN’ OUT 

Bust it! 


4444 


PS2 


JAN 


GRAN TURISMO 4 

Keep your hand on the e-brake. 


44444 


XBOX 


JAN 


FABLE 

Tell us a story, grandpa. 


4444 


GBA 


JAN 


RIVER CITY RANSOM 

Punching and kicking all over again. 


4444 


PS2, XBOX 


JAN 


MAFIA 

In the ’30s, they killed people to jazz music. 


4444 



DEPARTURES OUT NOW 



SYSTEM 


TITLE 


GMR SCORE 


PS2 


SSX 3 

What’s cooler than being cool? Ice cold! 


gno 


GC, PC, PS2, XBOX 


TIGER WOODS 2004 

Golf and hip-hop, together at last. 


9™ 


GC 


VIEWTIFUL JOE 

Hey Joe, where you goin’ in that crazy outfit? 


gno 


GC, PC, PS2, XBOX 


WARHAMMER 40K: FIRE WARRIOR 

Enlist in the space marines today. 


gno 


PS2, XBOX 


NASCAR THUNDER 2004 

Thunder isn’t God bowling, it’s Jesus driving NASCAR. 


O 

CO 


XBOX 


DUNGEONS & DRAGONS HEROES R no 

We tried playing, but the 20-sided die wouldn’t fit in the disc tray. LJ 


PC 


LIONHEART: LEGACY OF THE CRUSADER 

More like the heart of a kitten. 


gno 


PC 


REPUBLIC: THE REVOLUTION 

This is why we don’t vote. 


g/10 


XBOX 


DINO CRISIS 3 

Who knew getting eaten by a dinosaur would be so dull? 


g/10 


PS2 


LETHAL SKIES II 

We must have been inverted. 


o 

CD 


PS2 


JAK II 

You know what they say about guys with big ears.... 


g,'° 


PS2 


TIME CRISIS 3 

Bust a cap. A light cap. 


p/10 


GC, PS2, XBOX 


WALLACE & GROMIT: PROJECT ZOO 

Crackling good game, Gromit! 


p/10 


PS2 


MEGA MAN X7 

When will that little boy outgrow that armor? 


p/10 


XBOX 


HUNTER: THE RECKONING - REDEEMER 

We reckon the Hunter games are getting better. 


p/10 


GC 


WRESTLEMANIA XIX 

It’s fake, you know. And Santa Claus is dead. 


p/10 



26 
























Meet the Lionbearts. (V Smack-talking tag-tag band of rebels bound on an impossible quest. With an afSenal of 
outrageous weapons, tbeyTe destined for victory in 12,000 bullets or less. If they can make it through an army 



of psychotic robots and wall-SmaShing Goliaths, they just might Save the worid...if they don’t burn it down first. 








FRONT X 



GMR NEWS NETWORK 

new games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 



XB 



PC 



PS2 



GC 



XBOH 

KNOWLEDGE 

THEY KNOW STUFF SO YOU 
DON'T HAVE TO! 




KONICHI m 
XBOX 

Having just returned 
Jr from the Tokyo Game 
Show, I’m happy to report 
that it appears the pace is 
picking up for Xbox in 
Japan. While it's still 
emphatically clear that 
Sony’s PS2 owns the lion’s 
share of the market (and, 
hence, the attention of the 
development community), 
Xbox is finally being 
embraced by more of 
the country’s most 
talented developers. 

From Software’s Xbox- 
exclusive Otogi 2, for 
example, looks positively 
brilliant. The original game 
caught many U.S. gamers by 
surprise, and the sequel is a 
deeper, more sophisticated 
experience that should 
appeal to an even larger 
scope of gamers, thanks 
to a more accessible 
control interface. 

Microsoft's own True 
Fantasy Live Online continues 
to impress, combining 
feature-film-quality visuals 
with what appears to be the 
most customizable massively 
multiplayer experience ever 
created. A hands-on with 
Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden 
confirms that the game 
represents the apex of third- 
person action-style game 
mechanics, while Capcom’s 
Steel Battalion: Line of 
Contact brings the 
groundbreaking 40-button- 
controller-wielding mecha 
opus online. I# 1 




THE EMPIRE 
STRIKES JADE 

UUHFIT'S UP, BIOUURRE? 

CANADA 



The doctors of fun at BioWare crept 
up behind the games industry at the 
recent Tokyo Game Show and stuck it in 
the neck with a syringe full of wow. 

Maxim- style intro paragraphs aside, the 
Xbox-exclusive adventure-RPG Jade Empire 
looks about a thousand times better than 
the epic KOTOR in the graphics department, 



and will boast real-time arcade-style 
combat and one of the most visually 
stunning and beautifully realized worlds yet 
seen in a videogame. The early video and 
screens reveal a labor of love (set in ancient 
China) so detailed and atmospheric that it 
will leave you gasping for breath, in need, 
perhaps, of a doctor. I# 





.More info at http:rVjade. bioware. com 



h [SCREEN] 

H RELOADED-ED 



LURKE US UJHEN ITS OUER 

RATED R i 138 MINUTES 1 2 DISCS I DIRECTED BY THE WACHOWSKI BROTHERS 



If The Matrix: Reloaded achieved 
anything, it reminded us just how 
excellent the first movie is compared to 
this overreaching sequel. The original 
Matrix, with its miniscule budget and 
innovative yet low-tech special effects, 
reveled in its economy, delivering 
maximum bang for the buck with 
minimal waste. The sequel is a 
hemorrhaging beast by comparison. 
While an army of Matrix fans dissected 
the myriad Biblical and historical 
references buried in the characters, 
ships, and locations, we simply gritted 
our teeth as we sat through repeated 
Reloaded viewings. In the rare moments 
when Neo wasn’t sucking face with 
Trinity, Morpheus was either blathering 
on about the prophecies (boring!) or 
giving his milk-curdling "I Have a 
Dream” speech to a cavern full of 
illogically sexy ravers/resistance fighters. 

But, of course, all is forgiven when the 
Wachowski brothers so benevolently 




deliver unto us what we have come to 
see: the fight scenes. And yet, even these 
feel tacked on and obligatory. "You don’t 
really know someone until you fight 
them," blurts the Oracle’s spiky-haired 
bodyguard. Bite me. Even the highly 
touted burly brawl reeks of the stench of 
utter futility. 

Special features: The double-set DVD, 
which fans will purchase like lemmings, 
contains an anatomy of the "mind- 
blowing chase scene” and other less 
compelling stuff. Save us, Revolutions'. Mr 




PlflVSTRTION 

KNOUULEDGE 

THEY KNOW STUFF SO YOU 
DON’T HAVE TO! 




WHO’S 

NUMBER ONE? 

Every year, it’s clear 
Jr what the "really big” 
games will be. Last year, we 
all knew that Vice City was 
going to be bigger than Jesus 
and that Final Fantasy X would 
be similarly huge, though with 
a much different audience. 

But this year, who knows 
what the "really big” game is 
going to be? Looking at the 
release schedule, we can tell 
there are going to be some big 
hits.. .but which one is the 
leader? Return of the King will 
be a big seller, as will NFS: 
Underground, Ratchet & Clank, 
SOCOMII, and T.H.U.G. But are 
any of them going to be this 
year’s GTA1 No. Even this 
year's big Square game, Final 
Fantasy X-2, is meeting a more 
subdued reaction than usual. 
Generally, everyone falls over 
themselves to sing the praises 
of a new Fantasy, but many 
people doubt this one will have 
the same impact as previous 
titles in the series. It will 
surely sell a ton, but it's 
potentially "just another 
million seller" this time, rather 
than the competition crusher 
the franchise usually is. 

Is this good news or bad? 

It probably means that games 
are now even more like 
movies. In the grand scheme 
of things, 10 games that each 
sell a million copies is 
probably better than one 
game that sells 4 million. It’s 
not as exciting, though, is it? 

m 

„Jofm Davison is Editor-in- 
Chief of the Offkkl US, 
PlayStation Magazine. 





FRONT X 



DMR NEWS NETWORK 

nguj games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 



IN ASSOCIATION WITH 

&& GAMES 

electronics boutique 

TOP-SELLING GRTES FOR EUERV SVSTEm FOR SEPTEmBER 03 






PDF TOP 10 


SCORE 


01 


MADDEN NFL 2004 


9 


02 


TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2004 


9 


03 


SOUL CALIBUR II 


9 I 


04 


ESPN NFL FOOTBALL 


8 


OS 


NASCAR THUNDER 2004 


8 


06 


DISGAEA HOUR OF DARKNESS 


8 


07 


NHL 2004 


8 


08 


THE SIMPSONS: HIT N’ RUN 


8 


09 


SOCOM 


9 


10 


ESPN NHL HOCKEY 


8 



TOP 10 ALL FORMATS 

RANK TITLE 1 


-ORMAT 


SCORE 




, FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADV, 

1 It’s all part of my strategy fantasy. 


GBA 


B 


02 JsdL 


MADDEN NFL £004 

Overrated? Nah, we're just going to keep our 
mouths shut. 


PSE 


g 


oTfPlw 

ism 


i ESPN NFL FOOTBALL 

’ Now with 100 percent less social commentary. 


KB 


8 


04 


; TIGER WOODS PDA TOUR £004 

Yes, you’re reading this correctly. Golf more popular 
than wrestling. 


PSE 


g 


o5 l£Is 


: SOUL CALIBUR II 

1 Do you realize how difficult it is to write six Soul 
• Calibur If captions in two months? 


GC 


g 


06j*M 


I SOUL CALIBUR II 

! Do you? 


PSE 


g 


07*» 


j STAR WARS: JEDI ACADEMY 

I We flunked out after showing up to lightsaber class 
1 with a hangover. 


PC 


7 


08 ^xli 


WWE RAW £ 

Should have cooked it a UT more, then. 


XB 


5 


pi 








09|5cT~ 

i 


ESPN NFL FOOTBALL 

Good to see ESPN getting the attention it deserves. 


PSE 


8 


ioJO 


- SOUL CALIBUR II 

We don't think you do. 


XB 


g 





HB0F TOP 10 SCDRE 


01 


ESPN NFL FOOTBALL 


8 


02 


WWE RAW 2 


5 


03 


SOUL CALIBUR il 


9 | 


04 


TIGER WOODS PGA TOUR 2004 


9 


OS 


MADDEN NFL 2004 


9 


06 


D&D HEROES 


6 


07 


ESPN NHL HOCKEY 


8 | 


08 


THE SIMPSONS: HIT ‘N’ RUN 


8 


09 


NASCAR THUNDER 2004 


8 


10 


GHOST RECON: ISLAND THUNDER 


7 





DBA TOP 10 


SCORE 


01 


FINAL FANTASY TACTICS ADV. 


9 j 


02 


POKEMON PINBALL 


7 


03 


BOKTAI 


8 


04 


POKEMON RUBY 


7 


OS 


DB2: LEGACY OF GOKU II 


7 


06 


DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 


6 


07 


POKEMON SAPPHIRE 


7 1 


08 


SMA4: SUPER MARIO BROS. 3 


9 


09 


ADVANCE WARS 2 


8 


10 


GOLDEN SUN: THE LOST AGE 


8 





PC TOP 10 


SCORE 


01 


STAR WARS: JEDI ACADEMY 


7 | 


02 


EQ: LOST DUNGEONS 


TBD 


03 


BF 1942: SECRET WEAPONS 


8 


04 


TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL 


TBD 


05 


C&C GENERALS: ZERO HOUR 


TBD 


06 


HOMEWORLD 2 


8 


07 


MOH AA: BREAKTHROUGH 


TBD 


08 


AO: SHADOWLANDS 


TBD 


09 


SIM CITY 4: RUSH HOUR 


TBD 


10 


WC 3: THE FROZEN THRONE 


8 





DC TOP 10 SCORE 


01 


SOUL CALIBUR II 


9 


02 


WWE WRESTLEMANIA XIX 


7 


03 


F-ZERO GX 


9 


04 


THE SIMPSONS: HIT *N’ RUN 


8 


OS 


MADDEN NFL 2004 


9 


06 


BILLY HATCHER & THE GIANT EGG 


8 


07 


MARIO GOLF 


9 


08 


SUPER SMASH BROS. MELEE 


9 


09 


P.N.G3 


4 


10 


TIGER WOODS 2004 


9 



KNOWLEDGE 

THEY KNOW STUFF SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! 




GO 5H0RTV 

I hate the PC. No, not 

really. I love it. Well, 
not love love, like I want to 
marry it. But I sure enjoy 
having it around. That said, 
it’s making me mad lately, 
because as I gear up for the 
holiday releases, I realize 
there are still, like, 20 
games on my hard drive I 
haven’t finished, plus a huge 
pile of new ones I haven't 
even installed yet. It’s too 
much dang pressure. I might 
be the one person on Earth 
happy for the Half-Life 2 
delay— it means I can catch 
up on my older stuff 

For instance, I’m finally 
finishing Baldur's Gate 2. 

Yeah, I know— that game is 
ancient. But it's huge! I put in 
80 hours before getting out 
of Chapter 2. That's not a 
complaint in this case, 
because it's such a great 
game. But I do think, as my 
wife constantly reminds me, 
that size isn't everything. I'd 
much rather play an 
awesome, focused 12-hour 
game than a bloated, 
mediocre 100-hour one. 

Fears that upcoming 
titles like Max Payne 2 are 
going to be too short fall on 
deaf ears with me. The 
original Half-Life wasn't long 
at all. But every moment 
ruled. Halo could take out 
half those repeated corridors 
and still have a great game. 

Here's one vote for 
shorter, better games. 

Life's too short for bloated 
mediocrity. 

1# Jen Green is Editor- 



30 






fihoy. latkSe! 

You don’t &8i seasick, do you? 



Violence 



in Fire Emblem. Only for Game Boy Advance. 



iWEEiiiHlInfn 



© 2003 Nintendo/I NTELLIGENT SYSTEMS. TM, ® and the Game Boy Advance logo 
are trademarks of Nintendo. ©2003 Nintendo, www.gameboy.com/fireemblem 










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■ [TALENT] m i l l 

* KEN LEVINE 



SAUING THE UUOALD FROm EUIL 



Ken Levine of Irrational 
Games knows what PC 
gamers like: his games. Aside 
from being the lead designer 
for System Shock 2 — an 
absolute classic that’s on 
almost every gamer’s all-time 
favorite list— Ken also 
produced and wrote Freedom 
Force, the campy '60s comic- 
book-themed strategy game. 
Currently, he’s working on 
scripts for the new Tribes 
game for Vivendi and Freedom 
Force’s follow-up, Freedom 
Force vs. The Third Reich. We 
checked in with him to see 
how that’s going: 

GMR: Freedom Force vs. the 
Third Reich concentrates on the 
WWII era. What’s so appealing 
about that era? 

KL: There was something 
extremely black-and-white about 
that period that’s very exciting. 
The good guys were good guys, 
and the bad guys [were] Nazis. 
What’s great about bringing the 
Freedom Force characters there 
is that as they're developing as 
characters and become less 
black-and-white— they stand out 
in stark contrast to the enemies 
they face. 

GMR: War comics from the 
’40s could be racially charged. 

L How will Freedom Force vs. the 
Third Reich deal with those 
images and attitudes without 
being offensive? 

i 



KL: Freedom Force is always 
done in the spirit of fun. It’s 
clearly a fantasy. While we won’t 
have any buck-toothed 
caricatures for the Japanese, the 
Axis villains will clearly be 
villains. Our goal is not a 
philosophical re-examination of 
the various political and 
ideological structures during the 
Second World War, but it’s also 
not about reflecting any of the 
racial stereotypes of the period, 
whether they be European, 

Asian, or African American. 

GMR: How do you guys 
come up with characters and 
their superpowers? 

KL: A bunch of different 
ways. Sometimes, I’ll have an 
idea for a character and bring it 
to Robb Waters, our concept 
artist, who will take my sketchy 
thoughts and turn them into 
fully realized characters. Other 
times, Robb will bring a visual 
concept of a character to me, 
and I might offer some ideas to 
move the character one way or 
another. It’s pretty collaborative, 
but I have the easy part; Robb’s 
got to do all the drawing. Trust 
me, you don't want me doing 
the drawing. 

Once the character’s look 
and vibe are defined, we talk to 
Jon Chey, Dorian Hart, and 
Andrew Smith— who are 
designing the actual game 
mechanics— and they come up 





with superpowers to expand on 
and develop the persona that 
Robb and I have hashed out. 

GMR: What era are you 
planning to cover for the 
next installment? 

KL: Since I’ve already 
wrongly predicted which era 
we’d cover in an FF sequel once, 
I think I'll just keep my mouth 
shut on this. 

GMR: Any plans to do 
anything else with the Freedom 
Force characters? Movies? An 
actual comic book, perhaps? 

KL: Lots of things talked 
about, nothing firm yet. 

GMR: Who’s your all-time 
favorite comic-book character? 

KL: I' m so boring. 

Spiderman or Batman. Though 
I’m falling deeper and deeper in 
love with Jessica Jones in 
Bendis’ Alias book (not to be 
confused with the TV show of 
the same name). In terms of 
villains, it's Angelus from Buffy, 
which, despite being a TV show, 
is actually a comic book in 
structure and plot structure. 

Am I a nerd, or what? 1# 



- - 

£ NINTENDO 

KNOWLEDGE 



THEY KNOW STUFF SO YOU 
DON'T HAVE TO! 




NINTENDNO? 



I recently returned 
from TGS and, as 



expected, Nintendo was a 
no-show. Sure, there was a 
brief mention of the 
company at the show’s 
keynote speech, but 
Nintendo didn't even bother 
setting up a booth to show 
off its games. 

Even the mention at the 
keynote wasn't all that 
exciting— Nintendo 
announced that it will be 
remaking the two original 



Pokemon games for GBA. 
Kind of interesting, yes, and 
they will sell a ton of them, 
but re-releasing a hit game 
on an already successful 
system doesn't help the 
current problem: The 
GameCube isn't selling 
in Japan. 

The recent price drop in 
the United States has 
increased system sales, but 
Nintendo is still reporting a 



loss (to the tune of 3 billion 
yen. ..around $30 million) for 
the first half of this fiscal 
year. It's the company's first 
loss since 1962. 

I don't know Nintendo's 
logic for never showing up 
at TGS, but if it wants to sell 
GameCubes, it needs to be 
more forthcoming with 
upcoming releases. 

I# jaf & 







Step into the boots of a SEAL team in 
SOCOM li: U.S. NAVY SEALS and face 
the ultimate challenge: urban combat. 



Developed in association with the U.S. Navy 
SEALS, SOCOM II is close-quarters combat 
at its most realistic. Invisible snipers lay in 
wait. Enemies lurk around every corner. 
And every civilian could be a friend or foe. 
Stealth is your greatest weapon. 



Wage urban war in single-player mode. Or 
go online and play with and against up to 
16 total players. Either way, a S0C0M- 
compatible headset will help you 
communicate and work together as a 
team. Remember, together you stand. 
Divided you don’t stand a chance. 



Take the war on terror to the enemy on 
12 intense international missions. 
Command. Courage. Country. Hoo-yah. 




















onuine. 


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DMRNEW5 NETWORK 

neuj games, gameplanner. charts, pre-order, stuff 












Blood and Gore 
Violence 



sail 



The newly announced return of Hunter: The Reckoning, 
in the form of Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer* 
has us pretty damn excited.". 

Official Xbox Magazine May, 2003 



Hunter: The Reckoning Redeemer is bigger, badder, and 
far more insane than the previous slaughter-fest." 

/ www.IGN.com March. 2003 



Unrelenting action based on 
White Wolf's World of 
Darkness™ RPG series 






www.hunterthereckoning.com/redeemer 



Hunter: The Reckoning Wayward 
Now available on 

PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system 



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arks of Sony Computer Entertain 






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*Go to EB Games, purchase an N-Gage” mobile game deck and two titles, 
and receive a $100 gift voucher for N-Gage games and accessories. 






This is where 
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lo-lnteractive 



RECRUIT THEM.' TRAIN ‘THEM.- LEAD THEM TO VICTORY. 

• -* • ■ 

In our nation s darkest hour, true Americans cry out for a hero to free a war-torn 
Manhattan from invading forces. Rise through the ranks of the resistance and 
recruit an army of Freedom Fighters to take the war to the streets. 
They’ve taken away our freedom. Now it’s time to take it back. 

A unique "Recruit and Command" system lets you lead up to 12 urban guerillas 
J$r Wield an arsenal of weapons and other tools of the revolution 
'ffc Intense 3rd-person action on the streets of New York 4 player split-screen mayhem 



■ m^mmu u m-m 






www.freedomfighters.ea.com 


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MIND OF MICHEL ANCEL 



experience the NEWEST masterpiece from the visionary 



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Be yon d 

Good&Evil 

EXPOSE THE CONSPIRACY 



There's only one way to blow the lid off a 
government conspiracy: expose the lies. 
And no one can do it better than Jade, an 
Action Reporter with an eye for the truth 
and the heart of a hero. See beyond the 
propaganda. Discover the secrets of a 
broken world. Fight to save your people 
from an Alien threat. But above all, believe 
in nothing - except yourself. 



UBISOFT 

BEYONDGOODEVIL.COM 



©2003 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Resen/ed. Beyond Good & Evil, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and the "PS" Family logo are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and the 
Xbox Logos are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or in other countries and are used under license from Microsoft. TM, ® and the Nintendo GameCube logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2001 Nintendo. Software platform logo TM and © IEMA 2003. 





Vivendi 

universal 



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ESRB 


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^'Batilsstar Galactica' interactive game © 23C3 Un 
1' Inc in the U S and/or otte ianm PiaySaton 









FURIOUS SPRCE COMBRT 



The Complete Epic Series 
on DVD Oct. 21st 



battlestargalacticagame.com 



WATCH THE SCI FI ORIGINAL MINISERIES 
PREMIERES DECEMBER 7 AT 9/8C 








NEXT 



iNComiNG GRmes preuieuued 



PREVIEWED THIS ISSUE: 

LEOACV OF KAIN: DEFIANCE 
CRIMSON 5KIE5: HIGH ROAD TO REVENGE 
BROKEN SWORD III: THE SLEEPING DRAGON 
UNREAL TOURNAMENT E004 
DRAKE 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: OPERATION 5URMA 
5PV HUNTER E 
DRAQDNBALL Z: fiUDOKA! = 
WARD WARE GC 
OF FIGHTER5 EOOOr'EOOl 
COUNTER-STRIKE 
5PV VS. SPV 
CRASH NITRO KART 
GRADIUS V 
KILLER ? 
BREAKDOWN 
MAXIMO VS. ARMV OF ZIN 



P5EHXB 

XB 

PCr J P5£r J XB 

PC 

PCM 

GCr’PSEr'XB 

GCr’PSSr'XB 

PSE 

GC 

PSE 

XB 

PSE 

GCl’PSB'XB 

PSE 

GC 

XB 

PSE 



04? 

048 

048 

048 

048 

050 

050 

050 

050 

051 
051 
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053 
053 



WARNING! 



Here at GMR, we preview games a little differently. To ensure that our previews are as relevant as possible, we only feature titles that will be 
released within six months. We also record our level of excitement about the game with cool little flames. Previews are not reviews— they're 
merely a guide as to how good a game-in-progress is looking. It's a snapshot. If we're not very excited by it, the game receives one or two 
~ H flames. If we’re taking a wait-and-see attitude, expect to see three flames. Over and above that, you can bet we're pretty excited. It's our duty 

HRZRRDOUS fTlRTERlRl to tell you what we think at every stage of a game's development cycle— positive, negative, or somewhere in between. 



46 



INCOMING DAMES 

legacy of kah: defiance 



» NEXT 




-> Kain and Raziel stilt aren't on the 
best of terms, but you control both 
vampires during two intertwining 
quests. Kain fights with his sword and 
telekinesis, while Raziel sucks souls 
with gusto and swaps between physical 
and spirit worlds at will. Raziel's new 
transition animation is a killer— he 
sinks into the earth and climbs out of 
his grave and into the other world. 



XB 



PSZ 



RELE05E I NOVEMBER 



LEGACV OF KAIN: DEFIANCE 



□svsrem PS2/XB Opusushsr eidos Doeueiopen crystal dynamics 



(TIRKE THE SCENE 

The world of Nosgoth hasn’t 
changed much in the latest 
Legacy of Kain, but how you look at it 
has. The new scene-focused camera, 
which replaces Soul Reaver's character- 
focused style, changes everything. 

Rather than following behind Kain 
or Raziel’s back, the camera is now 
fixed in each scene. It’s just like Devil 
May Cry's camera, and it causes some 
familiar problems if following Dante’s 
movements gives you a headache. 
Scene transitions can be messy, since 
the definition of "forward" abruptly 
changes, requiring a quick jiggle of the 
analog stick to get things moving 
properly again. Other areas make 



depth perception difficult, such as when 
you're trying to judge the distance and 
direction of a jump along an axis where 
the relative positioning of onscreen 
objects isn’t clear. 

On the other hand, this scheme has 
distinct advantages, mainly in the 
aesthetic department. It displays 
environments as the designers 
intended— the game’s complex 
architecture and detailed textures 
stand out. The game world is as 
expansive as Soul Reaver Z s, but the 
sense of scale is even more 
impressive. The wider view also makes 
fighting multiple opponents easier, so 
Kain can carve through squads of foes 



with ease while quickly switching 
between targets. 

The controls enable the player to 
make moves in quick succession: You 
can slash one bad guy, suck the blood 
of another, and telekinetically toss their 
best friend off a bridge. Like Devil May 
Cry, there are two ways to fight. You can 
focus on one opponent and strafe 
accordingly, which works when a 
particular enemy needs to go first, or 
you can trust the automatic positioning 
and hack away at a larger group of 
foes. That control aspect is well in hand 
at this point, and Kain’s psychokinetic 
powers allow fights to spread across a 
large area without slowing down. If the 



bad guys run away, it’s easy to yank 
them back into range with a deft touch 
of mind power. 

If Crystal can nail down the camera 
control, everything else will fall into 
place, and most of the issues in the 
current version should be easy enough 
to tune. Once the scene transitions are 
smoothed out and the camera is freed 
up to follow the character more clearly, 
Defiance's fast action will most certainly 
be a welcome change from years of 
shoving boxes around. If 

GfTlR SRVS -> It’s something different for 
Crystal, but change is good, and what hasn't 
changed is the game's soul-sucking fun. 



-» HOW HOT... 







47 








OsvsTeni PC/PS2/XB □ publisher dreamcatcher □developer revolution software 

THE DRAGON SLEEPS TONIGHT 



In today’s ultramodern 
world of multigenre hybrids 
and high-intensity actioners, titles 
with strong ties to the past are a 
rarity. However, with its solid 3D 
engine and a considerable cult 
following to back it up, Revolution 
Software’s third installment in the 
famed Broken Sword franchise may 
revitalize the adventure category. 

Dubbed The Sleeping Dragon, the 
third Broken Sword aims for the old- 
school point-and-click audience. 
Sporting a heap of dialogue, cutting- 
edge visuals, and plot-heavy 
explanations, Revolution's primary 



focus is to successfully capture the 
spirit of a once-mighty genre while 
moving forward in terms of 
technology and control. 

Sleeping Dragon will offer 
circumstantial action buttons and a 
host of mind-twisting puzzles. 

Players should also be on the 
lookout for plenty of references to 
the earlier games in the Broken 
Sword franchise, as well as a witty, 
humorous subplot. You gotta love 
the humorous subplots. K* 

GI71R SRVS -> Adventure games are few 
and far between these days. That's a shame. 



HOUJ HOT... 



extreme new addition: vehicles. 
Land-, air-, and space-based rides 
at your disposal should accelerate 
the action to new heights. Throw in 
new weapons, maps, and the mod 
support that’s been the series' 



hallmark, and you've got the best 
UT ever. Until next year, that is.... I# 

GITIR SRVS -> More bigger. More better. 
Vou wanted it. you've got it. 



-» HOUU HOT... 4 4 4 4 



HOUU HOT... *** 



NEXT )) 



Cfimson skies high road to reuenge -> broken suxrd 



INCOMING DAMES 

I: the sleeping dragon -> unreal tournament 200M -> drake 



release I NOVEMBER release I NOVEMBER 

CRIMSON SKIES BROKEN SWORD III: T5D 



DRAKE 

O system pc/xb o publisher majesco OoEuaopeR idolfx 

Is it Max Payne for kids? A Satman-cartoon-influenced third-person title with gunplay? 

Or just another Hong Kong action game with as much Asian authenticity as a food- 
court Panda Express? Drake is all of these things, but some of its neon-tinted 3D 
stages could turn out well if its floaty controls and off-putting camera angles are 
fixed before release. We'll keep our fingers crossed. 

RELEASE I OCTOBER 

PAGE 

48 



□ SVSTem XB □ PUBLISHER MICROSOFT 
□DEVELOPER MICROSOFT GAME STUDIOS 

UUE'LL take the 
HIGH AOAD 

Even slick graphics couldn’t 

make Microsoft’s dry Flight 
Simulator series Xbox worthy. And after 
Sony’s Sky Gunner, does the world 
really need another steam-punk- 
revisionist 1930s-era flying shooter? 

Yes. The new Crimson Skies is not 
your daddy’s dogfighting game. By 
ditching sim-style realism in favor of 
fast action and benchmark-setting 
visuals, Microsoft has made even 
Namco’s newest Ace Combat seem 
crotchety. Crimson's controls recall the 
responsiveness and intuitive simplicity 
of addictive arcade games, letting you 
excitedly shake out of engine stalls as 
easily as you target planes and 
zeppelins with fatal machine-gun fire. 

Though the old-movie-themed one- 
player game is compelling, what really 
wins us over are Crimson's cooperative 
and competitive modes, which should 
finally make multiplayer dogfighting 
worthwhile for console owners. !♦ 

GfTIR SRVS -> We're keeping High Road to 
Revenge squarely in our sights. 



RELEASE I NOVEMBER 

UNREAL TOURNAMENT £004 



□ SVSTem PC O PUBLISHER ATARI 06UEL0PER EPIC 



UNAEALITV check 

The next installment in this 

futuristic death-sport- 
themed first-person-shooter 
franchise will be upon us faster 
than you can say “redeemer.” 
Unreal Tournament 2004 offers 
much more than the paltry graphics 
upgrade that characterizes many 
games iterated yearly; in addition to 
all-new technologies (such as 
improved computer-controlled bots 
and optimized network code), there 
are actually new game types— or 
should we say old. Assault mode, a 
favorite from the original UT that 
was left out of UT 2003, is back and 
better than ever. And a new mode 
called Onslaught that's geared 
toward smaller groups of gamers— 
just you and a few buddies— takes 
advantage of UT 2004's most 








Violence 



"With huge levels, branching paths and different styles of gamepi 'ay, 
this isn 't a half-assed sequel. It's a tricked-out and expanded new 
chapter of a burgeoning series." 

-IGN 



THE HUNT BEGINS HGHIN 



The hunt begins at spyhunter2.midway.com 



Take control of the all- new and fully loaded 
G-8155 Interceptor. Transform into new vehicles 
such as a sleek snowmobile and off-road 4x4. 



Engage both new and old foes as you trek through 
more than 15 dangerous missions across four new 
regions including Russia and the Swiss Alps. 


, y 00:000= ^ Q 

■ v_. A 


□ 


Playstation 2 


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NEXT » 



INCOMING GAMES 

mission mpossiae operation surma spy hunter 2 dragon Dai z Dudokai 2 uuano uuare gc 



XB 




GmR SRVS -> We hope this one doesn't 
self-destruct in five seconds. 



-» HOW HOT... 



RELEASE i NOVEMBER 

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: OP SURMA 



original third-person action game 
that successfully captures the 
spytastic feel of the movies. 

Based on stopping the Surma 
Corporation from unleashing its 
ICEWorm virus, the cinematic story 
is also timely, reflecting recent 
actual events concerning computer 
worms. Naturally, an impressive 
array of the series’ signature 
gadgets proves invaluable in this 
high-tech setting. Equally useful are 
Ethan's stealth abilities: infiltrating 
buildings and making silent 
takedowns will feel familiar to 
veterans of similar games and will 
likely be just as enjoyable. !#■ 



Ssvsrem gc/ps 2 /xb opublisher atari "doeueloper paradigm 

GOOD mORNING. fTR HUNT 



Unlike with the next installment of 
Bond games, don’t expect to be 
playing as Tom Cruise; this Ethan 
bears little resemblance to the 
short actor. With Ml: Operation 
Surma, Paradigm plans to create an 



Accept this mission and 
become top IMF agent Ethan 
Hunt, whose Bond-like combination 
of style, action, and gadget use 
made Mission Impossible a 
blockbuster Hollywood franchise. 




RELEASE I NOVEMBER 

DBZ: BUDOKAI £ 



*□ system PS2 □ publisher atari josueloper dimps 

GOING BRILS OUT 



Not until last year’s Dragon 
Ball Z: Budokai did the 
exceedingly, even excessively, 
popular anime series become 
something more than a half-assed 
third-rate imported-from-Japan 
fighting title. Because of requests 
from fans, Budokai 2 smartly builds 
upon the original for yet another 
DBZ release fans can be proud of. 

The addition of cel-shading 
works wonderfully. The technique 
truly accentuates Dragon Ball 
Z creator Akira Toriyama's 
distinct art style— whether that’s 
good or bad depends on your 
artistic inclinations. 



Single-player gamers are in for 
a treat with Budokai 2’s Dragon 
mode, which carries players from 
the World Games to the Kid Buu 
arcs of the DBZ saga. It’s structured 
like a board game, so characters 
are allowed a set number of 
moves each turn. Move to a space 
occupied by an enemy, and a battle 
commences. Upgrades and money 
to spend at the skills shop are 
scattered throughout each board. 
DBZ fans, start charging up. If? 



GmR SRVS -> It's kinda like Soul Calibur 
II. but for DBZ fans. Kinda. 



-» HOW HOT... 






RELEASE NOVEMBER 



5PV HUNTER E 

\$b SVSTSm GC/PS2/XB D PUBLISHER MIDWAY 
□DEUELOPER ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO 

THE SPV UJHO 
SHOT mE 

How often are videogame 

remakes a good thing? 

Midway’s 3D update of the classic Spy 
Hunter was a successful break from 
the norm, and based on our playtime, 
fans are guaranteed a similarly 
entertaining ride with its sequel. Spy 
Hunter 2 doesn’t deviate much from 
the nearly on-rails action formula of 
its predecessor. 

New vehicles enter the mix, and 
would-be spies can now take to the air 
or be individual weapons of mass 
destruction inside powerful tanks. 
Transitions between the vehicles are 
frequent and seamless, ensuring 
mission variety. Multiplayer has 
become a surprising new gameplay 
component: aside from head-to-head 
combat and minigames, a co-op mode 
is planned. The original struck a chord 
with fans old and new because of its 
relentless action. SH2, thankfully, 
doesn’t look to change a thing. If 

GmR SRVS -> Top-secret spy action 
delivered at a blistering pace that even James Bond 
would have trouble with. 



-» HOW HOT 





WARIO WARE GC 

a SVSTem GC Li PUBLISHER NINTENDO □ DEVELOPER NINTENDO 

Consumer alert! The suits at U/arioWare are recalling their popular DBA product, 
citing a 94 percent lack of multiplayer mayhem. Affected customers are advised to 
wait patiently for the upcoming OameCube version of Wario Ware, which will not only 
feature older microgames with multiplayer support, but also brand-new microgames 
designed specifically for GC and its four controller ports. 

PAGE 

50 




RELEASE I WINTER 








INCOMING GAME5 

king of fighters 2000/2001 -> counter-strike -> spy us. spy 



RELEASE I NOVEMBER 

KIND OF FIGHTERS EOOO Et 2001 

□system PS2 □ publisher snkusa □developer snk playmore 

□REnm mmcH neuer ends 



For the dedicated fans of SNK’s 2D fighters, 
this is the best deal for the money 
since... ever: KOF 2000 and KOF 2001 on one PS2 disc 
for 40 bucks. They may dispute which of the nine 
annual team-based fighters is really the best one, 
but they’ll still lay their money down. 

2000 and 2001 bridge the gap between the series’ 
old days and the new — 2000 was the last one 
developed by the original SNK, while 2001 came from 
new developer Eolith. For hardcore fighters, the 
juxtaposition should make obsessive analysis of 
minute differences in gameplay easier, and more 
casual players should just enjoy getting this much 
fighting in a single package. 

The double pack will have all the extras from the 
Japanese versions, including the survival-style Party 
mode and a gallery of art and movies. On top of that, 



SNK is packing in new Striker characters exclusive to 
the U.S. versions of both games, which should help 
make up for the long wait. I# 

GfTlR SRVS -> Add flames if you're an 5NK fan-it's been a 
long time since KOF has come home. 




COUNTER-STRIKE 




-» HOUU HOT... 



TT1 



RELEASE I NOVEMBER 



1 osvsTem xb npuausHER Microsoft ooeueiopgR valve 

UJHRT UURS OLD IS NEUU RGRIN 



We didn't realize that this was Counter-Strike 
at first. Why? ‘Cause the game is looking too 
damn good on Xbox. Not to bag on the original PC 
version, but c’mon, it’s based on the 5-year-old Half- 
Life engine. For this major face-lift, you’re getting 
20 maps (featuring seven Xbox exclusives and a 
couple of classics, like Dust]. More are on the way 
through Xbox Live, but the ones we've seen are 
packed with details. 

Developer Valve is even adding little touches that 
will affect the tried-and-true gameplay: walk out of a 
dark corridor into the sun, and your eyes need to 
adjust to the glare; a grenade goes off nearby, and 
your ears ring for a few seconds. By "borrowing" the 
silky-smooth controls from Halo, it’s gonna be easy 
for you to blow away 15 other guys online. So suit up 
and prepare to kick some ass. !#• 



GfTlR SRVS -> Vou're looking at the one game that’ll bring 
Xbox Live to its knees. 



-» HOUU HOT... 




SPY VS. SPY 

D system PS2 □ PUBLISHER TDK MEDIACTIVE COEUEtOPSR way forward 

One of the brightest jewels in Mad magazine's comedy crown. Spy vs. Spy's stylishly 
hand-drawn hodgepodge of humor and violence pre-dated Itchy and 5cratchy by nearly 
30 years. Plenty of games have pit perpetual antagonists Black Spy and White 5py 
against one another over the years: this one features action for up to four players 
as they outshoot. outwit, and out-booby-trap their way across IE levels. 

RELEASE I Q1 2004 




-» HOLU HOT... 




curls carle 
Editor in cmei ign Guides/ 



STOmD! 

“Almost euery title 
in the lineup orings 
a nostalgic smile 
to mg lace.” 








NEXT » 



INCOMING DAMES 

crasn mro kart -> gradius u -> kler ? 



XB 



PS2 



GC 




release I NOVEMBER 



CRASH NITRO KART 

□system GC/PS2/XB □ PU8USH€R VIVENDI UNIVERSAL □DEU&OPER VICARIOUS VISIONS 

FRmiUflR RRCES. PRETTIER FRCES 



Having preserved the dignity of the flagging Crash Bandicoot franchise 
with two solid Game Boy Advance titles, Vicarious Visions has been 
invited to work on its first nonportable Crash. Unfortunately, it has the task 
of producing a follow-up to the 1999 megahit Crash Team Racing and Naughty 
Dog’s kiss-off to the franchise that made it famous. 

So how do you follow up greatness? By making pretty much the same 
game with audiovisual enhancements. Crash Nitro Kart has an arena "editor" 
that lets you lay down a customized pattern of power-up crates, but 
otherwise, it’s just a really pretty Crash Team Racing, with the powersliding and 
ramp-jumping play mechanics that made it the best kart racer on PS1. It’s 
kid-tested, mother-approved gameplay. I# 



GfTlR SRVS -> Any DameCube owner with a double-digit IQ will likely kick this Kart for the 
future classic Double Dash!!, but this is the only real option for kart-kraving P5E and Xbox owners. 



-> HOW HOT... 



RELEASE I SPRING 04 

DRADIUS V 

□ SVSTem PS2 D PUBLISHER KONAMI ■ PDeueiopw KONAMI 



DEATH TO ALL ERSTER ISLAND HERDS 




-» HOUU HOT... * * 4 * 



The latest word on the 
newest Gradius shooter 
should calm a common fear among 
E3 attendees— no, the game will not 
be psychopathically hard. The demo 
shown in May was visually superb, 
but also so difficult that only a 
dedicated masochist could have 
enjoyed it for long. Now, Konami 
says the final product will be tuned 
for beginners and experts alike, so 
sane shooter fans may breathe a 
sigh of relief. 

Disappointed comes in the form of 
a brief delay, though. The Japanese 
version will arrive by the end of the 
year, but Vs American release is now 
scheduled for Q1 2004. The holiday 
rush is a rough time for niche titles, 
though, so it's a reasonable decision 
on Konami’s part. In the meantime, 
look forward to seven stages reviving 
classic themes from Gradii past, as 
well as a new Option Control system, 
offering more control than the familiar 
satellite weapons. If it’s kinder than 
the E3 version, this will easily be the 
best Gradius yet. I# 

GfTlR SRVS -> If you like Dradius. you'll 
love this. And if you don't, you should learn to. 




KILLER 7 

□ SVSTEfT) GC OPUaUSHER CAPCOM COEUSLOPEfi CAPCOM 

New details about Capcom's superstylin', surprisingly bloody action game have emerged 
from Japan. Former assassin Herman Smith, now wheelchair-bound, is afflicted by 
multiple personalities, "characters” who each possess different abilities (telekinesis, 
invincibility, teleportation, etc.), whose stories are told over five different story lines 
and two eras. Expect them to intertwine, as multiple stories often tend to do. 

RELEASE I Q1 04 




-» HOLU HOT... 



TTT1 




52 








INCOMING DAMES 

CreaKOoujn -> mawno us. army of an 



RELEASE ! FEBRUARY 04 

BREAKDOWN 



□ system xb Dpususher namco OoeuetopeB NAMCO 

SEE THE UJORLD THROUGH NEUU EVES 



Namco 's Breakdown may use a first-person 
perspective with as much skill as anything 
ever seen. Metroid Prime did a fine job of ensconcing 
players behind Samus Aran’s visor, but Breakdown 
goes one step further, putting them right inside 
hero Derrick Cole’s head. As he shoots, drives, 
fights hand-to-hand with glowing-eyed genetic 
mistakes, and even simply cracks open a can of 
soda, the game does an almost eerily perfect job of 
following his point of view. The "camera," as it were, 
bobs and dips in a way that reminds us of how 
artificial most first-person perspectives are. 

That distinctive detail makes Breakdown more 
interesting than it otherwise might be. First-person 
shooters are a dime a dozen on Xbox, even with 
graphics this good, but nothing has shown off the 



GfTlR snvs -> A near-unknown quantity with tremendous 
potential. 



-» HOCU HOT... 



same immersive perspective, especially blended with 
melee combat. If it does what its creators say it can- 
producer and Time Crisis veteran Hirofumi Kami 
plans to rival the blockbusters of both games and 
film— Breakdown may put players behind gaming’s 
most famous new face. I# 




RELEASE I FEBRUflRV 04 

MAXIMO VS. ARMY OF ZIN 

□system PS2 □ publisher capcom " cSeloper capcom production studio 8 



DEPTH UJERR5 RRfTlORED ROVER SHORTS 



It’s hard not to get stoked about a game with 
Jr armored boxer shorts. Sword-slinging 
Maximo has successive armor levels, just like the 
hero of the Ghouls h' Ghosts side-scrollers, and 
building them up grants more resistance to damage 
and special abilities. But the pinnacle, golden 
armor, takes some extra effort to snag. For the best 
protection possible, Maximo has to buy the critical 
part of the ensemble: armored undies. 

The quirky humor and nostalgic hooks that put 
the original Maximo on the map thus are in full effect. 
There’s more to ArmyofZin than that, though— its 
level design is a big step ahead. 

While the first game featured enclosed static 
levels, the sequel mixes things up with longer, more 
linear levels, seasoned with scripted events, so 
there’s more of a progression, as well as sudden 



shocks, for shifting the tone of combat. 

If the challenges facing him are more complex, 
Maximo has more ways to strike back. ArmyofZin’ s 
combat system combines multiple attack types for a 
bigger hand-to-hand combo tree and adds a combo 
meter to rack up bigger bonuses in intense fights. 

The big question mark is its looks. ArmyofZin 
isn’t close to the top of the PS2 graphical heap, 
although Susumu Matsushita's artwork goes a long 
way toward offsetting the relatively simple modeling 
and lighting. Serious platform fans should be able to 
look past that and enjoy what Maximo has in spades: 
classic action. !#• 



GfTlR SRVS It's not a technical powerhouse like Jak II. but 
Army of Ziris got solid mechanics and a retro cool style. 



HOUU HOT... 





OVER SO 
RREFWE 



MIDWAY PlayStation d 



Blood and Gore 



violence 



%mmm 

'Forget counter-striKe. 
Gauntlet is still the 
nest multi-player 
game euerr 

Simon monk 
Editor in Chief 
stuft magazine 









XB 

PC 

PS2 

GBA 

GC 




PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ITIRRTiN THOfTIPSON 



Charles Cecil is a true believer. When the 
Ty world told him that the point-and-click 
adventure game was as dead as the DeLorean, he 
duly moved his mouse over the laugh icon and 
clicked. The genre had already been more than good 
to him and his studio, Revolution Software, thanks to 
robust sales of such titles as Beneath a Steel Sky and 
Lure of the Temptress. By 1996, however, even the 
most ardent supporter of the point-and-click, 
LucasArts, was moving away from the genre and 
embracing 3D action games. 

Believing in the unique storytelling ability of the once 
ubiquitous genre, Cecil stuck to his guns and produced 
the PC best-seller Broken Sword. Defying the industry 
yet again, he followed it up with a sequel. Now, some 
five years after the last Broken Sword game, he’s back 
with a highly fashionable 3D version. Broken Sword: The 
Sleeping Dragon is previewed on page 48 of this issue. 
Charles Cecil, international man of mystery, is 
interviewed here.... . '??- 



GMR: What caused the demise of the point-and-click? 



GMR: Why has it been five years since the last Broken 
Sword game? 



I felt very strongly after Broken Sword 2, so it was vital to 
deliver something that not only was 3D, but also used 
the 3D to improve upon the gameplay. If we were going 
to do one, it had to look as good and as detailed in 3D as 
it did in 2D, and that’s why we didn't do this for a 
number of years. We wanted to wait until the technology 
was there to deliver a particular look. We very much set 
out to write an epic game. 



GMR: During that time, LucasArts, arguably your 
biggest direct competitor, produced a 3D version of 
Monkey Island. Did that affect your plans? 



CC: With point-and-click games, a grammar was 
developed; a grammar understood by those who knew 
the games, but found a little impenetrable by those 
who didn't. The people who played them a lot 
demanded, as time went onjfhat the puzzles become 
more and more difficult, but in doing that, they became 
more and more obscure, and people who didn't know 
this grammar stopped playing because the idea of 
taking an ironing board and turning it into a surfboard 
was so ludicrous, so obscures, that it meant nothing. It 
was self-referential. So part |f the reason we had this 
decline is that the games moved further and further 
down a very specific route and alienated more and 
more people who didn't understand that grammar. The 
games became frustrating, and to a certain extent, 
they had to because you had to stop people from 
progressing too fast. Our puzzles now still challenge 
you, but they're not nearly as: obscure. They make 
sense. In a 3D environment, you put in the extra 
gameplay elements. In the beginning, for example, you 
drag a box around— boxes are great, a generic feature 
that goes beyond the "find object, use object time- 
limit” structure of the point-and-clicks. 



CC: I admire LucasArts enormously and don't consider 
them competitors. Our competitors are first-person 
shooters. As far as we’re concerned, we do LucasArts 
an enormous amount of good when we publish our 
games in this genre, and they do us even more good 
when they publish theirs, because it reinvigorates the 
genre. I'm delighted that they have a great amount of 
confidence in the adventure genre and continue to make 
games in that genre. However, we've taken a very 
different approach than LucasArts. If you look at Monkey 
Island 3, it's a point-a-click in 3D. The Sleeping Dragon is 
a 3D adventure game. 



GMR: And on a console. Do you think console owners 
expect a bit more, ahem, action? 



CC: This is the No. 1 challenge, of course. Our 
philosophy on this was to look at what makes a great 
adventure. Not just what makes a great adventure 
game, but what makes a great adventure. I would still 
argue that Raiders of the Lost Ark is the most 
extraordinary adventure film, and it hasn't been 
beaten since. 



GMR: That’s the mix you’re looking for? 



CC: After the point-and-click^peglt 
desperately around for where go 
happened in a number of genres— sometimes it's highly: 
successful and sometimes 



CC: Yes. So forget about point-and-click. What an 
adventure like that delivers is investigation, exploration, 
and action. So, you’d expect your character to be 
dangling off the back of a jeep, hurtling through the 
desert. You'd expect your character to be hanging off a 
cliff, and you'd expect to go into, say, ancient temples 
and shimmy along the wall to avoid deadly spikes. So 
it’s much more than we could do in 2D. We couldn't 
have done it at all in 2D, but in 3D we can. On top of 
that, you've got action. But.. .the action is basically 
interactive cut-scenes, because with an adventure, the 
ptpf the game is working out what you should do 
fixt, not the difficulty of actually performing that via the 
terface— and that is also the heart of Broken Sword: 
le Sleeping Dragon. !#• 



BROKEN SUUORD’S CHRRLE5 CECIL COmiTIUNICRTES UUITH 
GIDR USING ONLY POINTING RND CLICKING 



IDOL CHATTER 

an interuieuu ujith Charles Cecil 



TALK 

IDOL CHATTER 




MONEY 



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store sales receipt dated between 10/28/03 and 12/28/03 to: 

GMR Rebate Center, 770 Pilot Road 
Suite F, Las Vegas, NV89119 

Allow 4-6 weeks for processing. Any voucher request without the original 
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dealers. $10 voucher will be sent in the form of an EB Gift Voucher. Gift 
Vbuchers are good for future purchases at Electronics Boutique, no cash 
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With skateboarding rapidly 
moving into the mainstream 
thanks to the widespread influence of 
ESPN's X Games and Tony Hawk’s Boom 
Boom HuckJam tour, the time is perfect 
for T.H.U.G. to open a window into the 
world of an amateur skater’s struggles. 
We chat with Tony Hawk on the matter. 

GMR: Since the focus of Tony Hawk's 
Underground is on the amateur/the 
unknown/the aspiring skater, what was 
your role in the development of the 
game, and was it different than usual? 

TH: I had the same type of input, but the 
added story line allowed us (me and 
other pros) to relay our experiences 
from throughout our careers and make 
them part of the game. I feel much more 
connected to this game than previous 
ones in terms of personal background. 

GMR: You used to be able to try out some 
new moves in real life after you'd 
developed them in the game. Because 
the custom-moves engine is so flexible 



now, are there moves in the game that 
are just impossible to do in real life, or 
has keeping things within the realm of 
possibility been a priority? 

TH: The Create-a-Trick feature allows 
players to create anything from the most 
basic trick to complete fantasy, so it is 
entirely up to the user to "keep it real.” 

GMR: How far do you think 
skateboarding has come as a sport, and 
are the kids doing things now that 
impress even a veteran like yourself? 

TH: Skateboarding has grown infinitely in 
terms of legitimacy and acceptance, and 
any new move or technique impresses 
me at this point. 

GMR: What's a good board to start off 
with if you’re a 30-something magazine 
editor with a calcium deficiency? 

TH: Something on the bigger side, 
and I would recommend tightening 
your trucks. 



GMR: Thanks for the advice. Besides 
T.H.U.G., which Tony Hawk Pro Skater 
game has been your favorite, and why? 

TH: Pro Skater 4 was the best because it 
incorporated the best features of our 
previous games and added to them. 

GMR: Did you ever imagine how big the 
series would become? Did you think it 
would be the standard by which all other 
action-sports games are measured? 

TH: Not in the least. I thought it would be 
a game that skaters appreciated and left 
at that. 

GMR: The last X Games was officially the 
last one you said you would skate in. 
Does that mean you would unofficially 
skate in one? Do you still skate for 
leisure, or would you rather just drive a 
car now? 



TH: I stopped competing, but I skate as 
much as ever. We are currently on a 30- 
city tour with the Boom Boom Huckjam. I 
plan on doing this type of exhibition 
skating in the future. 

GMR: Are your own boards just like any 
board you can get at a skate shop, or 
are they the pinnacle of modern 
skateboard engineering? 

TH: My personal board is a little bigger 
and wider than our production decks 
because I wouldn’t want kids to think 
they should ride a board suited to size- 
13 feet. 

GMR: That's OK. You know what they say 
about guys with big feet. Lastly, what’s 
the single coolest thing about T.H.U.G .? 

TH: Customization. !«■ 




...anv new moue or technique 
impresses me at this point." 




What the hech is Tonv Hawh's Boom Boom HuchJam tour anvwav? 



If you're dying to see Tony Hawk and his 
assembled troupe of extreme superstars do their 
high-flying acrobatics, there’s no better time than during 
the 30-city Boom Boom HuckJam 2003 North American 
tour. Making pit stops in cities as far-reaching as St. Paul, 
MN; East Rutherford, NJ; Nashville, TN; and even Toronto, 
Canada, most anyone who wants to check out these 
modern-day Evel Knievels should hustle over to their 
nearest HuckJam location now. 

Keep in mind that it’s not all fun and games— at least 



not for the participants (kids, don’t try this at home). 

To illustrate, Tony Hawk writes the following in the 
online-diary section of the event’s website 
(www.boomboomhuckjam.com): “Hi all, I have never seen 
so many things go awry in two weeks’ worth of shows, let 
alone in one night. Such as: Bob’s board went astray 
during the finale, hitting Bucky in the face and giving him a 
black eye. Bucky couldn’t remember a thing once we got 
back to the dressing room, meaning that he also got 
KO'd.” Can we get a resounding ‘‘D'oh’’? 





57